Scoot to Food: a Yale-NUS local breakfast initiative

The final breakfast meet-up in semester 1 of AY 2023/24 at Sweet Blossom Coffee Roasters. Image provided by Alan Seah.

Over the past year, a small group of Yale-NUS College and NUS College (NUSC) students have been gathering every Wednesday morning to enjoy local Singaporean food at nearby hawker centers and coffee shops. At Yale-NUS, this effort is one of the many student-led community initiatives contributing to students’ residential experience. We interviewed Alan Seah (Class of 2025), Ho Sze Koy (Class of 2025), and Nuha Hafiz (Class of 2025) to learn more about the breakfast initiative.

How did Scoot to Food start?

Alan: We did not start this intentionally, but rather, spontaneously when Koy, Nuha, and I wanted to eat at a renowned fishball noodle store located in West Coast Food Center. We thought it would be a fun surprise to invite different people we knew to meet us at a certain time without elaborating on where we were going or who would be there. On the first day, about seven people came, not at all expecting it to be a group activity. After a great breakfast, the group decided to meet again the following week but with a different permutation of people at a different location. Since then, these weekly breakfasts just never stopped.

Nuha: I know that Alan and Koy have a once-a-semesterly tradition of grabbing fishball noodles at West Coast Hawker Center. In semester 2 of AY 2023/2024, Alan and I started having breakfast nearly every morning as we were morning people. To introduce some variety in our breakfasts, he suggested we grab fishball noodles with Koy. To my best understanding, Scoot to Food was born out of a merging of two traditions. We invited some friends along spontaneously in that first week, and it has become tradition since.

“Scoot to Food”, “Breakfast Club”, and “Wednesday Breakfasts” became the unofficial titles for these community breakfast outings. Nuha shared that the first moniker was inspired by students who owned scooters and were “very entertained by the thought of riding their scooters to breakfast every week”. True to its name, Scoot to Food had students who often scooted to nearby breakfast venues then back to campus before their first class at 9 am. Some of the breakfast meet-up venues included Ayer Rajah Food Center, Tiong Bahru Market, 448 Clementi Market & Food Center, and Ghim Moh Food Center.

Breakfast at different food centers. Photos provided by Rachel Fong (Class of 2025) and Nuha Hafiz (Class of 2025).

What was something unexpected that came out of this experience?

Alan: There were some weeks where someone in the community would cook breakfast instead of going out. It really shocked me the first time I received a message that the meeting venue was at Elm Buttery. Some weeks we even had close to 20 people!

Nuha: I did not expect the community to grow into something so consistent. It started out as something spontaneous with a small group of friends who barely knew each other. Since then, it has morphed into something that not only occurs weekly, but grows each week, with ‘regulars’ and new friends joining every time. The best part is also the genuine new friendships because we got to know others from different student organisations, classes or even schools.

Sze Koy: Something unexpected was students cooking breakfast for one another. This was really nice because it was a lot of work to cook for others. It was really nice to taste their cooking especially since they put in a lot of effort to cook. This also attracted a newer and bigger crowd because students were more inclined to wake up early since it was more convenient!

What started as an initiative to revitalise the community’s appreciation for local food extended to a surprising opportunity for students to demonstrate their own cooking skills in an effort to show their community spirit. Some homemade breakfasts included Rachel Fong’s (Class of 2025) eggs on sourdough, James Ham’s (Class of 2025) garlic bread paired with curry chicken, Jing Xuan Loo’s (Class of 2024) Hong Kong style macaroni, and Mira Dewan’s (Class of 2024) kopi o’- among many others.

Breakfasts prepared by Jing Xuan Loo, Rachel Fong, and Vivienne Su (all from the Class of 2025).

We also invited Tamaki Sakamoto, an exchange student from Waseda University, and Bibiana Inez Low (NUSC Class of 2026) to share their experience facilitating and attending Scoot to Food.

What was it like when you organised a breakfast meet-up?

Tamaki: It was quite difficult to organise since a lot of places I am familiar with were already visited this semester, so I ended up picking a place from the list of stalls the breakfast club went to last semester.

Bibiana: I was really excited but also a little stressed because I am not familiar with the hawkers and coffee shops around Yale-NUS. I was also afraid that I would bring everyone to a place they have already visited but overall, it was really fun to plan! I learnt a lot more about the place I chose (i.e. Ghim Moh Road Food & Market Centre) through my research.

What did you take away from this experience?

Tamaki: I was also interested in discovering places in Singapore I would not go by myself. So this made me more familiar with the local food scene, especially in the Clementi area.

Bibiana: Personally, I think my biggest take away from this experience is being able to have a taste of the Yale-NUS community life and of course, new friendships! I love the conversations that take place over breakfast and I find myself learning so much from others. The friends that I have made from these breakfasts also compelled me to keep attending despite the early meeting time. The sights we got to see were really interesting! One moment that I remember is seeing a group of elderly ladies gathering around a table at Ghim Moh Road Food & Market Centre giggling away while chatting and showing each other their purchases from the market. Made me smile!

One of Tamaki’s breakfast runs. Photo provided by Ryan Ye (Class of 2025).

Beyond a simple breakfast, Scoot to Food is a community event that brings students together over a shared experience. As the semester winds down, Scoot to Food members hope to continue this tradition in their final year at Yale-NUS College.

After a year of breakfasts, here are some favourites from our interviewees:

Alan Seah – Coffee at Sweet Blossom Coffee Roasters.

Bibiana Low – Bak Kut Teh at Kedai Bak Kut Teh Ah Soon.

Tamaki Sakamoto – Wanton Noodles at Ayer Rajah Food Center.

Ho Sze Koy – Chwee Kueh at Clementi Food Center.

Nuha Hafiz – Appam at Ghim Moh Food Center.

Our students’ favourites: Sze Koy’s Chwee Kueh, Nuha’s Appam, and Tamaki’s Wanton Noodle. Photos provided by respective students.